Wednesday, February 01, 2012

The Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon Battle Heats Up

In terms of capitalization value, it's almost this bad for B&N.

The Barnes & Noble announcement today that Amazon-published books will not be sold in Barnes & Noble bookstores is not much of a surprise to anyone who has kept up with the fight for survival that the chain is facing. Spokesman Jamie Carey said today that the decision not to sell the books was made in protest of the exclusive agreements that Amazon is trying to negotiate with publishers, writers, and literary agents.

“These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain eBooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content,” Carey continued.

“It’s clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest.”

[...]

Barnes & Noble said it will continue to make Amazon titles available on its website. But thanks to the traditional book retailer’s latest move, Amazon may struggle to get its books into anything but a virtual marketplace.

Read the article. You might be surprised by which company is publishing the Amazon print books and which authors have already signed exclusive agreements with the company.

2 comments:

It's difficult to know what Amazon is up to, because what we hear up here in Canada is that they are in trouble - they are losing so much money because of the deep discounts they offer, in order to compete with the chains and independents. This is interesting to read about, though as my background is in books, and as an unpublished writer, my heart is always for what is good for books, and reading. I'm not sure what Amazon is doing is good in the long run for the book marketplace. What do you think, Sam?

Susan, I think what Amazon is doing is good for many writers because it is their best hope of getting their work published and out into the book world for others to enjoy. But I think, at the same time, the overall effect of Amazon is going to be a negative one. They are crippling traditional publishing and I have to wonder how long they will be content to take the relatively low profit margins that they enjoy today. Are they headed for a traditional monopoly, one gained in the old fashioned way of being willing to take a loss until the competition drops out? If so, we know what happens next...higher prices than ever, poorer selection, etc.

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